Saudi Gazette report

TAIF — In a remarkable display of sacrifice and compassion, a Saudi woman in Taif donated 80 percent of her liver to her husband’s second wife, ending her long battle with kidney failure.

Noura Salem Al-Shammari, the first wife of Majed Baldah Al-Roqi, stepped forward to help her co-wife, Taghreed Awadh Al-Saadi, after seeing her suffer from years of dialysis.

The act has been hailed locally as an extraordinary gesture of selflessness.

Al-Roqi told Okaz that his wife Taghreed had endured kidney failure for years and had traveled to the United States for a year in search of treatment, but without success.

Upon her return to the Kingdom, Al-Roqi decided to donate one of his kidneys to ease her suffering.

“I entrusted Um Turki [Noura] with our five children in case anything happened to me during surgery,” he recalled.

“But I was surprised when she announced she would donate 80 percent of her liver to Taghreed, purely for the sake of God.”

The transplant surgery was successful after medical tests confirmed tissue compatibility.

“She came like rain to revive barren desert,” Al-Roqi said of his first wife’s life-saving gift.